Tag Archives: Tarot

Good Morning Beautiful Souls, grab a cup of your favorite morning brew and start things off with “Today’s Inspirations”. I hope you find something here that will make you feel good or help you on your path today.

Blessings, Cat

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Another fresh new
year is here…
Another year to live!
To banish worry,
doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh
and give!
-William Arthur Ward (1921-94)

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Spiritual Unite: Pine Tree Symbolism – Protection And Immortality

The pine tree is one of the most recognisable trees in the world.
The Pine Tree is one of the most widely used tree symbolism the world over. The pine tree is about as culturally significant as a tree can get.

Mirka Knaster, fiber and mixed media artist, asks us “How many times have artists thought, while working on a project, ‘Will I ever get this completed?’ How often do we face seemingly unsurmountable obstacles on the path to turning our vision into reality? And when will we reach the level of proficiency and excellence we aspire to?” These questions are familiar to any creative person who has a vision and wants to bring it to life. And what we often lack is patience, a slower tempo, more attentive listening to the nature of the unfolding creation.

We as a society are sitting at a precipice – our whole world is turned upside down as we begin 2019. In this article I provide guidance on how to set your foundation for navigating what’s unfolding. Continue reading to understand the mindset, life structure, and actions needed now.

On January 11, 12 and 13, 2019, use the waxing crescent moon to find the red planet Mars. You’ll find both Mars and the moon in the evening sky, with the moon in a waxing crescent phase and Mars much fainter than it was six months ago, when it outshone all the stars, brighter than since 2003. Now, Mars is still shining as brightly as a 1st-magnitude star. It’ll be that bright “star” close to the moon on these evening

“If you play it safe in life you’ve decided that you don’t want to grow any more.”
— Shirley Hufstedler

How are you sabotaging your potential for change?

We unconsciously use defence mechanisms to shield us from situations we perceive to be scary or painful. A part of you may want to grow and change, but another part may be resisting because change always moves you into new territory in your thinking and emotions.

If you find you are getting anxious, fearful, angry, frustrated, dismissive or unmotivated, then defence mechanisms are at work. Watch for them and know them to be signs of fear that wants to hold you back. Then courageously move through them.

“I have never been contained except I made the prison.”
— Mary Evans

higherawareness.com
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A Note from the Universe

Actually, the less you think about how you can get something, like money, love, or laughter… the faster it will come.

Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof.”

-Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
This is another example of the more that you give, the more that you have. One of the best ways to learn is by teaching! Wisdom is not something that can necessarily be measured, but it can be felt, and it can be shared.

-Lissa Coffey

coffeytalk.com

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Beliefnet: 7 Self-Care Tips for Busy People
Self-care doesn’t have to take much time

You’ve got a to-do list that feels like it’s a mile long. There are kids to run around, social and church commitments, work deadlines to meet, and a house to keep clean. To get everything done, you put yourself aside and focus on fulfilling the needs of everyone around you

Good Morning Beautiful Souls, grab a cup of your favorite morning brew and start things off with “Today’s Inspirations”. I hope you find something here that will make you feel good or help you on your path today.

Blessings, Cat

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The short holiday day of talking by the fire,
floating on snowshoes among
ancient self-pollarded maples,
visiting, being visited, giving
a rain gauge, receiving red socks,
watching snow buntings nearly over
their heads in snow stab at spirtled bits
of sunflower seeds the chickadees
hold with their feet to a bough
and hack apart, scattering debris
like sloppy butchers, is over.

-Galway Kinnell (1927-2014)

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Spirituality & Health

5 Meaningful Holiday Traditions
I once heard that kids spell love T-I-M-E. I often think of that with my own kids, but I think it’s also true for adults. What adult wouldn’t want a little more time off for the holidays? A little more time to spend relaxing by the fire. A little more time with a loved one who is no longer with us. This holiday season focus on meaningful traditions, whether that translates to time spent in peaceful solitude and reflection as you head into the new year, or time spent with friends and family. Here are five ways to create meaningful new holiday traditions

I am on my tiptoes every New Year’s Eve, caught up in the magic of something new this way coming. “Auld Lang Syne” is in my ears reminding me to honor the past that brought me here as I ask everyone around me what their favorite part of the year was and why. The clock winds down, and I close my eyes for my kiss, confident my new life is beginning the very next day. It is pure magic and wishful bliss.

Okagesama is the awareness that what is inside the walls of your house or under the skin of your body or any aspect of your life and experience are elements that cannot be seen. They are in the shadows and in order to see them, we have to look very deeply. Gregg Krech writes that we have to see with more than our eyes. There are unseen forces in our lives that make them possible. When we reflect on this and try to identify all the unseen forces that make a thing or an experience possible, we discover that it is endless. We discover that what is in the shadows doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, but that once we bring the light of awareness to it, we often find that it is love.

*Whether astrology is science or magic, we’re open to most things, if they may be of benefit. ~ Ed.

Too many of us are bruised, battered, and worn from 2018’s energy.
One of the things that most of us enjoy about astrology is its ability to give us some indicators into where we go next.
Astrology is not just about what lies ahead—it’s about the past and present, too.

MNN: Why and how you should start a sit-spot routine
Spending time in nature has proven health benefits, and this habit will help you reap those positive rewards.

I’m sitting on deep green moss at the base of an old Sitka spruce. Sunlight is filtering down through a canopy of pine and alder, vine maple and salmonberry. On my right, a small creek tumbles over rocks and fine silt, wraps around the little knoll I’m on and continues down a small green ravine into a sedge-filled marsh.

These next two nights – December 25 and 26, 2018 – you might see the moon and Regulus, the Royal Star, coming up above your eastern horizon before your bedtime. If not, you can always get up before daybreak to view the waning gibbous moon and Regulus much higher up in the sky.

What is this dark time of the year, when it’s not about belief, whether the biblical or the pagan?
Without the cards, the first thing that fell into my head as a quick answer was a favorite line from the movie All the President’s Men: ‘If it ain’t sex, follow the money.’
Right.

“Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what’s urgent, learn to focus on what is really important.”
— Stephen Covey

Time management is all about making decisions. At each step of the way, we want to choose activities that best support what we want to do with our lives. To do this, we need to be clear about our short and long-term goals.

Here’s a general question to ask yourself often: “Is this the best use of my time in terms of meeting my goals?” Sometimes, of course, we don’t have any choice. But ask yourself honestly, “Could I take more control if I really wanted to?” Often, we play the victim because we don’t want to make the effort to change our behaviour.

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'”
— Lao-Tzu

higherawareness.com
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A Note from the Universe

Baby souls follow.

Young souls lead.

But old souls are just as happy to dance alone.

Not that I’m spying on you,

The Universe

tut.com

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Today’s Recipe: Caramelized Cranberry Brussels Sprouts

These Brussels sprouts are extra yummy, sweetened by being caramelized, and studded with cranberries. The onions and garlic give it a nice smoky flavour. I love the green and red look for the holidays. 🙂

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”

-Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson says “do not grasp at the stars” as if to say- don’t worry so much about things you don’t have, things that are out of your reach. Instead, focus on the task at hand, and see the beauty and the blessings which are right here, right now. We can’t appreciate what is right in front of us if we are looking off into the distance.

-Lissa Coffey

coffeytalk.com

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Beliefnet: 6 Things to Leave Behind in the New Year
Life is too short to give fear, regret, and bad habits a place in this next year.
I love New Years. Something about new beginnings and chances to improve always gives me a feeling of hope and excitement. Plus, I just love champagne. It’s almost as invigorating as the idea of letting go of “the old” things you want to forget or habits you want to change. Like running like an Olympian to catch the kids’ bus every day. Or drinking that second (okay fourth) cup of coffee before three.

Good Morning, grab a cup of your favorite morning brew and start things off with “Today’s Inspirations”. I hope you find something here that will make you feel good or help you on your path today.

Blessings, Cat

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Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,

but by the seeds that you plant.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94)

almanac.com

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Mind Body Green:

The 4 Spiritual Intentions Deepak Chopra Lives By

When spiritual icon, best-selling author, and mbg collective member Deepak Chopra, M.D., stopped by our office to record the mindbodygreen podcast earlier this year, we knew we were in for a treat. What followed was over an hour of thought-provoking ideas on what makes a fulfilling, soulful life—the small steps we can take to become more present and at peace in our bodies, every day. Here, we recount one of the highlights from our conversation, when Chopra dived into the four intentions that guide his every action.

Listen. There are haters everywhere. And by haters, I’m referring to people who get jealous of your success, do not want to see you rise, and who are intimidated by your greatness. The truth is, your greatness is a constant reminder of what they are not doing in their lives. You can either shrink and crawl into your dark hole when you are amidst jealous folks, or you can stand in your power and keep shining on. It can be scary at first to shine 100 percent despite what people are saying or thinking about you (which by the way you have absolutely no control over). But I promise you this: you standing strong in all of your awesomeness will create a space for others to do the same in THEIR lives.

There are many things that people have been saying about the Fool in the Tarot. The list is long, and the meanings and stories assigned to the Fool range from short to tall. Some very tall.

Tradition calls him an idiot. Esoteric approaches to the Tarot see the Fool as a representation of ultimate freedom. This is correct to the extent that the Fool IS an idiot, but when we think of how esoteric tarot is not so fond of the idiot AS a regular idiot, pushing him upwards to the rank of idiot savant, we understand just what is so unsettling about the Fool.

“Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are — chaff and grain together — certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away….”

— Dinah Craik

We cherish our best friends and our special communities because we feel safe to be vulnerable when we’re in their embrace. And yet I have discovered that as long as I identify with my self-image, with my ego, there’s no safety possible anywhere. When the ego is on watch, even a dear friend’s truth may trigger reactions like anxiety, self-criticism and fear.

The only true safety exists in living the truth of our soul, our essence.

“Open your body and your mind to the subtler levels of experience, letting go of your attempt to control, to be right, not worrying about appearances, not trying to be safe.”

— Stephen Levine

higherawareness.com

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A Note from the Universe

Did you know that whenever you whisper, “I’m sorry…” to someone quietly in your mind someone over here sheds a tear and healing begins?

Did you know that whenever you whisper, “Thank you…” to someone quietly in your mind, someone over here sheds a tear and presents are sent?

And did you know that whenever you whisper, “I love you…” to someone quietly in your mind, someone over here sheds a tear, healing begins, presents are sent, and 10,000 bells are rung?

Actually, you have your own marching band that follows you everywhere…

I love you,

The Universe

tut.com

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Today’s Recipe: Vietnamese Pandan Honeycomb Cake

This is a delicious sweet, chewy pandan flavored tapioca cake with coconut milk. To have a successful cake, you have to follow the instructions closely. I love making this cake from scratch at home because I do not add any food coloring. The hue is naturally from the pandan leaves.

“The mind can store an estimated 100 trillion bits of information – compared with which a computer’s mere billions are virtually amnesiac.”

-Sharon Begley et al (in Newsweek, 1986)

Technology may attempt to keep pace with the mind, but no computer will ever be as intelligent as a human being. A computer represents just one kind of intelligence, while we wonderful creatures also exhibit emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, physical intelligence, and so much more that’s just not programmable into a mere machine.

-Lissa Coffey

coffeytalk.com

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OM Times: The Truth (and Untruth) About Mindfulness

Mindfulness can provide a direct path to the experience that we desire. Those who believe that being mindful is blissful will inevitably be disappointed. Since being mindful is about being present with oneï¿½s experience, whatever that may be at any given moment, the range of possibilities of what can show up is infinite. Being complete isnï¿½t necessarily synonymous with feeling right; it is merely about showing up and being at one with whatever is present in our field of experience now.